Last night after dinner with some friends we stopped briefly at Shopko because one of them needed to pick up large bobby pins and double-sided tape. It didn’t take long to find either, but it was long enough that a couple of us wandered over to look at electronics.

Something about looking at electronic hardware turns me into a potentially lethal impulse buying machine. It’s one thing to be at the store and think hey, I’m here, I should pick up some gum. It’s a completely different and much more dangerous situation to be at the store and think hey, I’m here, I should pick up an iPod shuffle. Trust me, if you do this, you’ll run out of money very quickly.

In this particular case the hardware in question was the Nintendo DS with Mario Kart bundle. In addition to fulfilling the availability and under $150 requirements needed for me to consider a purchase, the DS went for honors by also being a limited-edition color and being bundled with a game. And it comes with decals. Flame decals.

So why didn’t I buy one? Because I would never use it. Just like I barely use my Game Boy Advance, and my Game Boy Advance SP. It’s because I don’t generally have a need for portable games. I don’t have a commute, and I don’t travel, so despite my interest in the platform I just know it would end up collecting dust like all my other portable consoles.